Frequencies of nuclear anomalies in the rythrocytes of peripheral blood of clinically healthy turkeys at the age of 6 and 17 weeks old

An important quality of the breed is the stability of productive traits. An important role in their determination is played by the stability of the genomes of the animals that make up this breed. One of the methods for assessing genome stability is the analysis of spontaneous frequencies of the formation of nuclear anomalies in the cells of various animal tissues. An analysis of the frequency of nuclear anomalies in animals is used to diagnose a predisposition to cancer, analyze the effects of various diseases, pharmacological effects, environmental influences and conditions. At the same time, the biological processes of the organism itself affect the frequency of nuclear anomalies. Therefore, to understand the reaction of organisms to external factors correctly, it is necessary to know how the frequency of nuclear anomalies can change depending on endogenous factors: species and breed, age and physiological state of clinically healthy animals. The purpose of this publication is to present the results of an analysis of the frequencies of nuclear anomalies in red blood cells of peripheral blood of male turkeys of two ages of 6 and 17 weeks old (7 birds in each group). Blood was taken from the bird axillary vein. Blood smears were fixed in 96% ethanol, stained with azur-eosin solution according to Romanovsky. In a blood smear of each bird, ≈10000 cells were analyzed. Red blood cells with normal nuclei, with micronuclei, with budding, two-lobed, notched and tailed nuclei were taken into account. The results of the study showed that in turkey males ( Meleagris gallopavo, f. domestica , cross Big-6) at the age of 6 and 17 weeks old the average frequencies of micronuclear erythrocytes were 0.81‰ and 0.76 ‰, respectively. The average frequencies of red blood cells with nuclear abnormalities of all types amounted to 0.94% in 6-week-old chicks. This indicator in 17-week-old birds was equal to 0.73%. Thus, the frequencies of red blood cells with micronuclei and other nuclear abnormalities in adult birds were lower than in 6-week-old chicks, however, these values did not have statistically significant differences.